restore Fri, 23 Jun 2000 Volume 1 : Number 533 In this issue: OCTA has 67,207 sig.s, above minimum required; CRRH filed e-signatures lawsuit Keep the Pace - It's a Winning Pace! Political Assassination of american Peter McWilliams Nader/Yamato GPW 23Jun00 KS ALERT: Peter McWilliams Becomes Drug War Fatality NORML WPR 6/22/00 (II) Fwd: OC Register editorial on Peter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 15:47:41 -0700 From: "D. Paul Stanford" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: OCTA has 67,207 sig.s, above minimum required; CRRH filed e-signatures lawsuit Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20000622125956.04d84cd0@mail.olywa.net> CRRH's Oregon Cannabis Tax Act initiative has over the minimum required number of signatures needed to qualify for a vote in Oregon. OCTA now has 67,207 signatures turned in to our Portland office. We are now working on a buffer of additional signatures needed to ensure qualification. An initiative here requires 66,786 valid registered Oregon voters' signatures to qualify for a vote in Oregon. Because some folks sign when they aren't registered to vote, or they have moved, or sign illegibly, we need to turn in over 80,000 voters' signatures to the Oregon Secretary of State's office by July 7th to qualify for a vote this November. Yesterday, CRRH filed a lawsuit in Marion county court against the Oregon Secretary of State to have them accept electronic signatures gathered on the Internet. With the US Congress passing the electronic signature bill last week, and with President Clinton's announced support of the electronic signature bill, CRRH's OCTA initiative is the first petition seeking a statewide vote to gather signatures on-line, using the signer's computer, modem and mouse. If you are a registered Oregon voter, go here to sign on-line: http://www.crrh.org/octa/sign.html So far today I have been interviewed by KGW-TV, KATU-TV, The Oregonian and KEX 1190 radio regarding our petition drive, e-signatures and the lawsuit. We think that this local story might develop into a national one given the timeliness of the issues, at the very least in the Internet media. This should help our campaign. We have several new video additions to HempTV to announce. CRRH's series "Cannabis Common Sense" show 140, 60 minutes. (6/18/2000) CRRH weekly series, with segment on martyred activist and best-selling author, Petter McWilliams. Swiss news and products. Dr. Leveque, professor of pharmacology and toxicology, and medical cannabis patient has his children taken for 1 plant. http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/ccs_140.html Bill Bradley on ABC News' This Week. Bradley admits he smoked marijuana, then he asks and gets a confession from Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts that they smoked too. Roberts says she did when she was pregnant, which would lead to having her child taken away from her in most places in the USA today. 2 minutes; Sept. 19, 1999. http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/news_bradley.html Peter McWilliams on ABC News' 20/20. John Stoessel's segment, "Give me a break" features best-selling author and medical marijuana patient Peter McWiiliams' federal prosecution. Medical marijuana helped Peter fight nausea caused by other life-saving medications he had to take. Peter died 5 days after this aired, asphyxiated in a bout of nausea, 3 days after his last book and computer were destroyed in a mysterious fire at his home. 4 minutes; June 9, 2000. http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/news_mcwilliams.html CRRH needs donations now to pay petitioners. Please donate to CRRH so we may force a vote in Oregon to end adult and medical marijuana prohibition and restore industrial hemp. We need donations to pay petitioners. We need to pay for thousands of more signatures. You can make a difference by making a secure, encrypted donation using your Visa, Mastercard or Discover credit & debit cards on our website, linked from: http://www.crrh.org/donate/secure.html Credit & debit card donations appear on your bank statement simply as CRRH; Portland, OR. Anyone, anywhere in the world is welcome to donate. Every dollar donated means we can pay petitioners to gather 2 more signatures. Oregon state income tax filers get a 100 percent refund on donations of up to $50 a person or $100 for married couples filing jointly when filing the state tax form next year. Please make a contribution by mailing a check to: CRRH P.O. Box 86741 Portland, OR 97286 We're having a big petition event on the 4th of July. We hope to gather over 10,000 signatures that day, just before our July 7th petitioning deadline. There will over a hundred thousand people out that afternoon getting ready to watch the fireworks displays that night (more than twice that if the weather is nice), and we hope to have over a hundred petitioners to each gather over 100 signatures apiece in 5-6 hours that night. This will be a way to ring in real freedom and justice for all on the US Independence Day at the cusp of the new millennium. Call us if you can petition at 4th of July celebrations in Oregon. Be a freedom fighter! Please be certain, if you have petition signatures, remember to mail your signed petition back to us as soon as possible. Don't delay, mail them in today. After the 26th of June, don't mail anything. Our deadline is July 7th, so after the 26th of June, be sure to turn your petitions in to the OCTA representative in your area. Please help us restore hemp. Thank you! Yours truly, D. Paul Stanford ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 07:15:37 PDT From: "Bruce House" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: Keep the Pace - It's a Winning Pace! Message-ID: Hello All, OCTA has momentum - THIS IS EXCITING to be here witnessing the signatures and donations roll in, and making inspiring phone calls to people we've mailed to. LET'S ALL HAVE A CANNABIS INDEPENDENCE DAY! If we keep up the pace, we CAN MAKE THE BALLOT! If you were thinking of donating, but think it's just a drop in the bucket - THINK AGAIN! Little donations do add up quick! Now is the crucial period, we are working on the error rate cushion. Donations are rolling in, signatures are rolling in, mail is going out, phone calls are being made. GIVE IT ALL YOU GOT NOW, AND LET'S MAKE THE BALLOT! Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp! PO Box 86741 Portland, OR 97286 (503) 235-4606 http://www.crrh.org Sponsors of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act Initiative. Regulates Marijuana through state run liquor storess and licensed cafe's, ends the prohibition on industrial hemp, and distributes marijuana through pharmacies at cost. http://www.crrh.org Award Winning Web Site Hemp TV Online Hemp Store Secure Credit Card Donation Site OCTA will WIN in Federal Court! http://www.crrh.org Restore Hemp Store 3554 NE Sandy Blvd. Portland, OR (503) 235-4606 ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 09:16:43 -0400 From: Pat To: Restore , "Multiple recipients of, Friends" Subject: Political Assassination of american Peter McWilliams Message-ID: <395211AD.F8BC9279@netcarrier.com> I have just sent this letter off to my representatives in the u.s. congress. Pat aahpat@netcarrier.com *********** Pat Toomey Member of Congress 2020 Hamilton St. Allentown, PA June 22, 2000 RE: Political assassination of american Peter McWilliams Dear Congressman Toomey; I am completely disgusted with the prohibition drug policy of the united states of america. I will not and I morally cannot support or condone this anti democratic civil war. The direct and intentional political assassination by the federal government of medical cannabis activist Peter McWilliams through the manipulated use of our federal judiciary is a horrific turn of events. In case you are ill-informed and don't know who McWilliams was I will direct you to the National Review online of June 20, 2000 which this week published an obituary about the man titled "A murder in California". It was more than murder. This was an intentional political assassination by u.s. federal authorities to silence an american political activist inside of america. McWilliams was a medical cannabis political activists and a well known best selling author. He was diagnosed with AIDS and cancer. Last week he died while awaiting federal sentencing for growing medicinal marijuana that was completely legal in his state of California. And for which he had a doctors prescription. McWilliams smoked cannabis to maintain his appetite and thus his strength while undergoing chemotherapy. And it helped him to control nausea in order to keep from puking up the other medicines he was taking to stay alive. When the Drug Enforcement Agency arrested him to stop him from speaking they took his computers. He was not silenced. They charged him with cultivation of medicine that was legal in his state. He didn't stop speaking. Their federal judge refused to allow McWilliams to cite the legal and democratic will of the people, California proposition 215 as his defense. They disallowed his greater good defense for medicinal cannabis use. Federal Judge George H. King and the u.s. prosecutors forced him into a plea agreement that stipulated that he take daily drug tests to assure that he did not use cannabis. He was forbidden even the use of legal marinal. Last week, while awaiting federal sentencing for legally growing medical cannabis, he choked to death on his own vomit, too weak to save himself. Judge King, who is not a medical doctor, had ordered him to not use the substance that even the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science has said has these life saving beneficial effects. The federal government could not strip this man of the First Amendment any other way. To silence McWilliams and to terrorize into silence other medical cannabis activists the federal government of the united states of america assassinated Peter McWilliams. Peter McWilliams was willfully assassinated to deprive america of its First Amendment right to hear what he had to say. I have lost all trust, faith and confidence in the government of the united states of america. I will adamantly oppose any candidate for federal or state office who supports america's intolerant drug prohibition. this massive social engineering program is a complete waste. It is destroying constitutional government in the united states. It's proponents in the congress have even vetoed democracy in Washington, D.C. to force this longest of civil wars on us. One quarter trillion dollars since 1980 has been wasted on the prohibition and now the enforcers of this policy are committing assassination of americans in america to defend this policy. Prohibition did not work in 1930 and it is not working today. Not even God could enforce a prohibition against Adam and Eve yet this policy has given america the black eye of having the largest prison population in the western world. With no end in sight. This prohibition is not democratic. The 106st congress, (except you and some others I noticed), went so far as to veto and nullify democracy in our national capital, to uphold this intolerant policy. I left the Democratic Party over the drug prohibition issue. Now, I will start registering american voters and I will campaign for Ralph Nader who promises to end america's longest war, our second civil war, the drug prohibition. Pat Rogers aahpat@netcarrier.com P.S. As a tribute to Peter McWilliams and as an expression of contempt of this government and the prohibition drug policy I will not capitalize the united states of america in any correspondence until this war is ended and all simple drug convictions in america are pardoned and expunged from the criminal records of america. cc/Sen. Specter, Sen. Santorum, President Clinton, The Los Angeles Times. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 11:40:29 -0700 From: "David Crockett Williams" To: ".GeneralAgencyServices" Subject: Nader/Yamato GPW 23Jun00 KS Message-ID: <00db01bfdc7a$75fe8ac0$6718a5d1@rain.org> http://www.egroups.com/group/global-peace-walk/406.html Nader/Yamato GPW 23Jun00 KS > http://www.egroups.com/group/global-peace-walk/406.html > This fax requires the eFax Messenger or Messenger Plus to open, if you > are still using the Microviewer, please visit http://www.eFax.com/need > to download a free copy of Messenger or Messenger Plus. > The above referenced file contains the flyer for the June 23 Friday event in Kansas City where Global Peace Walk initiator, Rev. Dr. Yusen Yamato, will be offering his message. Text of flyer follows. To view/dowload/print efax file, see above/below url for free reader program access. ------------begin flyer text: An afternoon with Green Party presidential candidate RALPH NADER and local activists Support political alternatives and hear local perspectives on globalization and social justice. Friday, June 23 12:30-3:00PM Kansas City Community College Performing Arts Center 7250 State Ave, Kansas City, KS Nader to speak at 2:00. Confirmed Local Speakers: Slater Shiriki Unganisha of S.T.A.C., Maureen Flynn-Hart of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Frank Neff of Greater KC Fair Trade Coalition, and Craig Volland, environnmental activist/consultant Also: Reverend Yusen Yamato of Global Peace Walk 2000. Music by Natalie Cox. More speakers/performers TBA Voluntary cash donations accepted at the door Sponsored by Kansas and Missouri Greens http://www.votenader.com ------------------end flyer text-------------- -dcw David Crockett Williams gear2000@lightspeed.net Chemical Physicist Chartered Life Underwriter Independent US Presidential Candidate w/ Leonard Peltier for VP http://www.egroups.com/group/williams-peltier General Agency Services http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/genagency.html Offering "The Legal Revolution" http://www.prepaidlegal.com/go/dcwilliams Global Peace Walk 2000 http://www.globalpeacenow.org Updates/Voicemail 415-267-1877 Global Emergency Alert Response http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000 Science & Technology in Society & Public Policy List http://www.egroups.com/group/dcwilliams The Vision of Paradise on Earth, DCWilliams http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/vision.html Nuclear Disarmament & Economic Conversion Act http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html Easy way to Email Media and Government http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd "An Agenda for Peace", one Global Peace Walk support letter http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/agenda.html ----------------------end message--------------- to see flyer printed/faxed version, go to attachment icon in email at: > http://www.egroups.com/group/global-peace-walk/406.html > This fax requires the eFax Messenger or Messenger Plus to open, if you > are still using the Microviewer, please visit http://www.eFax.com/need > to download a free copy of Messenger or Messenger Plus. > http://www.egroups.com/group/global-peace-walk/406.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 11:50:22 -0700 From: Mark Greer To: alerts@drugsense.org Subject: ALERT: Peter McWilliams Becomes Drug War Fatality Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20000622114655.0517f5b0@mapinc.org> Peter McWilliams Becomes Drug War Fatality ------- PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE ------- DrugSense FOCUS Alert #175 June, 22, 2000 Despite grave illness, legal troubles and financial problems, Peter McWilliams always spread the word about the cruel folly of the drug war. Peter was finally silenced last week thanks to the policies he protested so eloquently. An AIDS and cancer patient who was denied medical marijuana while waiting to be sentenced on drug charges, Peter choked to death after vomiting. Considering that he used marijuana to quell nausea from AIDS-fighting drugs, there is no question that court-ordered restrictions of his medical marijuana use helped to kill Peter. There have been some observers who have noticed this, like William F. Buckley (see below). Unfortunately, many obituaries written for Peter simply said that he died after a long battle with AIDS and cancer. Please write a letter to thank Buckley for exposing the real truth behind Peter's death and/or write a letter to any of the newspapers that ran an obituary of Peter to let them know that Peter's death and many of his recent troubles were all the result of drug prohibition. WRITE A LETTER TODAY It's not what others do it's what YOU do *************************************************************************** PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID ( Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list (sentlet@mapinc.org) if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to MGreer@mapinc.org Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness. ************************************************************************** CONTACT INFO Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Contact: opinion@sacbee.com EXTRA CREDIT The LA Times (and many other papers) ran obituaries that didn't mention the fact that Peter died from a symptom that medical marijuana could have prevented. The LA Times obituary can be found here: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n832/a10.html Please write to the Times and other papers to let editors and readers know what really happened. Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Contact: letters@latimes.com To find other obituaries and commentary on Peter's death, go to MAP's DrugNews archive at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/ and click '"go" on the Quick Link box that lists "Peter McWilliams" as a hot topic. All of the following newspapers have printed versions of this story with the same basic information. Please send a copy of you letter to these papers, and your local newspaper as well. *************************************************************************** ARTICLE US: Column: Peter McWilliams, R.I.P. URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n849/a10.html Newshawk: There is no justice in the war on drugs! http://www.november.org Pubdate: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 2000 The Sacramento Bee Contact: opinion@sacbee.com Address: P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento CA 95852 Feedback: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Forum: http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html Author: William Buckley Note: Write to William Buckley at Universal Press Syndicate, 4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111. His column appears in many newspapers. Bookmark: MAP's link to Peter McWilliams items is http://www.mapinc.org/mcwilliams.htm PETER MCWILLIAMS, R.I.P. Peter McWilliams is dead. Age? Fifty. Profession? Author, poet, publisher. Particular focus of interest? The federal judge in California (George King) would decide in a few weeks how long a sentence to hand down, and whether to send McWilliams to prison or let him serve his sentence at home. What was his offense? He collaborated in growing marijuana plants. What was his defense? Well, the judge wouldn't allow him to plead his defense to the jury. If given a chance, the defense would have argued that under Proposition 215, passed into California constitutional law in 1996, infirm Californians who got medical relief from marijuana were permitted to use it. The judge also forbade any mention that McWilliams suffered from AIDS and cancer, and got relief from the marijuana. What was he doing when he died? Vomiting. The vomiting hit him while in his bathtub, and he choked to death. Was there nothing he might have done to still the impulse to vomit? Yes, he could have taken marijuana; but the judge's bail terms forbade him to do so, and he submitted to weekly urine tests to confirm that he was living up to the terms of his bail. Did anybody take note of the risk he was undergoing? He took Marinol - -- a proffered, legal substitute, but reported after using it that it worked for him only about one-third of the time. When it didn't work, he vomited. Was there no public protest against the judge's ruling? Yes. On June 9, the television program "20/20" devoted a segment to the McWilliams plight. Commentator John Stossel summarized: "McWilliams is out of prison on the condition that he not smoke marijuana, but it was the marijuana that kept him from vomiting up his medication. I can understand that the federal drug police don't agree with what some states have decided to do about medical marijuana, but does that give them the right to just end-run those laws and lock people up?" Shortly after the trial last year, Charles Levendosky, writing in the Ventura County (Calif.) Star, summarized: "The cancer treatment resulted in complete remission." But only the marijuana gave him sustained relief from the vomiting that proved mortal. Is it being said, in plain language, that the judge's obstinacy resulted in killing McWilliams? Yes. The Libertarian Party press release has made exactly that charge. "McWilliams was prohibited from using medical marijuna -- and being denied access to the drug's anti-nausea properties almost certainly caused his death." Reflecting on the judge's refusal to let the jury know that there was understandable reason for McWilliams to believe he was acting legally, I ended a column in this space in November by writing, "So, the fate of Peter McWilliams is in the hands of Judge King. Perhaps the cool thing for him to do is delay a ruling for a few months, and just let Peter McWilliams die." Well, that happened last week, on June 14. The struggle against a fanatical imposition of federal laws on marijuana will continue, as also on the question whether federal laws can stifle state initiatives. Those who believe the marijuana laws are insanely misdirected have a martyr. Peter was a wry, mythogenic guy, humorous, affectionate, articulate, shrewd, sassy. He courted anarchy at the moral level. His most recent book (his final book) was called "Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do." We were old friends, and I owe my early conversion to word processing to his guidebook on how to do it. Over the years we corresponded, and he would amiably twit my conservative opinions. When I judged him to have gone rampant on his own individualistic views in his book, I wrote him to that effect. I cherish his reply -- nice acerbic deference, the supreme put-down. "Please remember the Law of Relativity as applied to politics: In order for you to be right, at least someone else must be wrong. Your rightness is only shown in relation to the other's wrongness. Conversely, your rightness is necessary for people like me to look truly wrong. Before Bach, people said of bad organ music, 'That's not quite right.' After Bach, people said flatly, 'That's wrong.' This allowed dedicated composers to grow, and cast the neophytes back to writing how-to-be-happy music. So, thank me for my wrongness, as so many reviews of my book will doubtless say, 'People should read more of a truly great political commentator: William F. Buckley Jr.'" Imagine such a spirit ending its life at 50, just because they wouldn't let him have a toke. We have to console ourselves with the comment of the two prosecutors. They said they were "saddened" by Peter McWilliams' death. Many of us are -- by his death and the causes of it. ****************************************************************************** SAMPLE LETTER To the editor: Supporters of marijuana prohibition sometimes say the war on weed is worth all its drawbacks if it saves one child. But they never acknowledge that marijuana prohibition is killing people, even though no human being ever died from marijuana use. William F. Buckley was completely correct to trace Peter McWilliam's death to the federal war on drugs and the bureaucrats who enforce it. Before ever being convicted of anything, Peter's property, including a book in progress were seized. Then he was denied the right to use effective medicine, despite state law that gave him that right. And when he was tried he was not allowed to use a medical defense. When Peter choked on his own vomit (a symptom he probably wouldn't have exhibited had he been allowed to use medical marijuana) it was last blow in a vicious government assault against an enlightened individual who embodied the injustice of the drug war. I hope Peter does rest in peace, but I hope his death will help to agitate more citizens to fight against the cruel policy that killed him. Stephen Young IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts 3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm **************************************************************************** TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm *************************************************************************** Prepared by Stephen Young - http://home.att.net/~theyoungfamily Focus Alert Specialist Mark Greer Executive Director DrugSense MGreer@mapinc.org DrugSense is working to encourage accuracy, honesty, and common sense in matters involving the failed, expensive, and destructive "War on Drugs." Get Involved - Learn about the Issues http://www.drugsense.org Contribute - Help us Help Reform http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm Find Information - Learn how to Make a Difference http://www.mapinc.org === Please help us help reform. Send drug-related news to editor@mapinc.org See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for details === NOW YOU CAN DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ONLINE AND IT'S TAX DEDUCTIBLE DrugSense provides many services to at no charge BUT THEY ARE NOT FREE TO PRODUCE. We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you are able to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort visit our convenient donation web site at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm ********************* Just DO It!! ********************************** Mark Greer Executive Director DrugSense MGreer@mapinc.org http://www.drugsense.org/ http://www.mapinc.org/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 16:01:50 EDT From: NORMLFNDTN@aol.com To: undisclosed-recipients:; Subject: NORML WPR 6/22/00 (II) Message-ID: NORML Weekly Press Release 1001 Connecticut Ave., NW Ste. 710 Washington, DC 20036 202-483-8751 (p) 202-483-0057 (f) www.norml.org foundation@norml.org June 22, 2000 Report Declares ONDCP 'A Troubled Bureaucracy' Says McCaffrey Is 'Difficult To Work For' Washington, DC: According to the Boston Globe, an independent review mandated by a House and Senate conference committee has found the White House drug czar's office to be an "understaffed and troubled bureaucracy led by a director who is 'high pressure and military-oriented,' driving many career professionals to quit." The congressional committee hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to review the Office of National Drug Control Policy after concern grew about problems in employee retention and drug czar Barry McCaffrey's management style. The 53-page report may be released this week. The report states that it takes 20 full-time employees to manage McCaffrey's schedule, about one-seventh of the staff. The report describes McCaffrey's leadership style as "aggressive, high-pressure and military oriented," and many interviewed by PricewaterhouseCooper said "He's difficult to work for." The report states "Under the current directorship, a military structure has been imposed on a previously civilian culture. As incompatibilities have developed, people have made the decision to leave." In 1999 the ONDCP had a 27 percent turnover rate and PricewaterhouseCooper estimates a 38 percent turnover this year as many are expected to leave after the election. The report said that when McCaffrey leaves with the change of administrations, the ONDCP will likely not have a deputy director in place which will hurt the office's continuity. There has not been a deputy director for 73 percent of McCaffrey's reign and as the report states, McCaffrey has instead appointed acting deputy directors which "serve at the pleasure of the director, but confirmed deputy directors (by Congress) can only be dismissed by the President or impeached by Congress." The report states, "[A]uthority and institutional knowledge are concentrated centrally with the current director and ... the knowledge base appears to be weakened and vulnerable." "This soon to be released report appears to confirm what most observers of America's drug policy already know -- the ONDCP is principally a political backwash and has little real impact on the consumption of illegal drugs by Americans," said Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director. For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director at (202) 483-8751. ONDCP Websites Secretly Track Visitors Washington, DC: The Office of National Drug Control Policy has been secretly tracking internet users who visit two government websites to determine where they have been on the Internet, a clear violation of the recently released Clinton administration's privacy policy for federal agencies. It was reported on Wednesday that "cookies," a computer code that is dropped on to the hard drive of visitors, typically used for tracking online advertising effectiveness, are being placed from the ONDCP's www.freevibe.com and www.theantidrug.com. websites. Ogilvy & Mather, the advertising agency used by the drug czar's office, contracted with Internet advertising company DoubleClick Inc., one of the largest Internet user profilers in the nation. When users type in certain key words relating to drugs on search engines, advertisements for the ONDCP sponsored sites appear. If the visitor clicks on the banner ad, a cookie is then placed on the user's hard drive. White House press secretary Joe Lockhart condemned this ONDCP practice claiming the White House just learned about this practice and pledged, "We will take all steps necessary to halt these practices now." "This is another outrageous example of 'Big Brother' trying to monopolize public discussion on the issue of marijuana," said Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director. "It's incredible that an agency of the federal government seeks to track web visitors as well as spend millions of taxpayer dollars buying up most of the relevant words a web viewer employs when researching the topic of 'marijuana.' Can you imagine the Environmental Protection Agency buying the search word 'environment' or the Department of Health and Human Services buying the search word 'health' and steering web viewers to government web sites? When will this rogue federal bureaucracy be reined in?" St. Pierre concludes, "Even worse, if a web user types 'National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws' into most search engines, the user is immediately exposed to government propaganda in the form of a banner ad against marijuana. The drug czar won't meet with or debate NORML, but he has no problem using our name to spread his lies." For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director at (202) 483-8751. ONDCP Denies NORML Freedom Of Information Act Request Washington, DC: This week, the Office of National Drug Control Policy declined NORML's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to release all information pertaining to the zero-THC hemp seed importation policy, the effects on drug testing of consuming hemp products and on a proposed legislative ban on hemp products. The drug czar's office stated in a letter to NORML from ONDCP general counsel Edwin Jurith, Esq., that they found "no connection between the public interest...and the legality of the zero-THC hemp seed importation policy; or proposed amendments to the Controlled Substance Act...the documents you request are not likely to contribute significantly to the public's understanding of the operations or activities of the government." "The drug czar, without authorization from Congress, imposed a restriction on the importation of hemp seed products causing substantial loss to hemp producers and merchants in Canada and the United States," explained Tom Dean, Esq., NORML Foundation Litigation Director. "Documents were leaked indicating the restrictions were intended to protect the drug testing industry. No notice was given prior to the embargo, as is required by the Administrative Procedures Act and NAFTA. Attorney General Janet Reno later declared the restriction illegal and ordered customs to eliminate the trade barrier. Now the drug czar is circulating a secret memo urging Congress to make all hemp products illegal under the Controlled Substances Act. All this, and yet the ONDCP asserts that the information would not contribute to the public's understanding of the operations and activities of the government." For more information, please contact Tom Dean, Esq., NORML Foundation Litigation Director at (202) 483-8751. -end- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 17:49:01 EDT From: Swftl@aol.com To: DPFT-L@tamu.edu, drctalk@drcnet.org, restore@crrh.org, liberty-in-illinois@topica.com, nora@november.org, tom@november.org, cp3@egroups.com, slick-d@egroups.com, libertyics@egroups.com Subject: Fwd: OC Register editorial on Peter Message-ID: --part1_c8.6877f38.2683e3cd_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --part1_c8.6877f38.2683e3cd_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: Received: from rly-zb02.mx.aol.com (rly-zb02.mail.aol.com [172.31.41.2]) by air-zb02.mail.aol.com (v74.17) with ESMTP; Thu, 22 Jun 2000 16:37:46 -0400 Received: from list.tyrell.com (adsl-209-78-185-82.dsl.lsan03.pacbell.net [209.78.185.82]) by rly-zb02.mx.aol.com (v74.17) with ESMTP; Thu, 22 Jun 2000 16:37:19 2000 Received: from prodigy.net by list.tyrell.com with SMTP; Thu, 22 Jun 2000 13:35:31 -0700 Message-ID: <00e501bfdc89$b6eed940$4a38ff3f@planner> From: "RL Root" To: "AMMA -TALK" Subject: OC Register editorial on Peter Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 13:37:40 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.1 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 Sender: Precedence: List-Software: LetterRip Pro 3.0.7 by Fog City Software, Inc. List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: List-Admin: WWW: http://www.kubby.org/AMMA.html Finally, the Orange County Register presents information about Peter's death. Today they carried William F. Buckely's OPED as well as an editorial of their own which follows. And don't forget to try to contribute to the Register's "very special Commentary edition on Sunday, July 2 celebrating the first Independence Day of a New Century". They are asking for submissions answering to either of these two questions: 1) Is there an instance in your personal life where you advanced human liberty, or, an event where you were the beneficiary of someone else's effort to protect your freedom? 2) Why do you believe in the Declaration of Independence? Deadline for submissions is noon on Monday, June 26. Submit to letters@link.freedom.com Let's make this special Commentary section not just special to our county, but also to all the Libertarian Party delegates that will be in town on that day. ~RR ~~~~~~~~ Unnecessary Death Orange County Register editorial, June 22, 2000 The drug war claimed another victim last week when author, publisher and activist Peter McWilliams died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 50. Perhaps ironically, he died the same day Governor Ben Cayetano of Hawaii signed a medical marijuana bill passed by the state legislature - making Hawaii the first state in the country to authorize the medicinal use of marijuana through the legislature rather than by a vote of the people. An author whose computer how-to books several times made the New York Times best-seller list and whose 'Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do' is destined to be a modern classic, Peter contracted AIDS and cancer a few years ago. He found that marijuana was the best way to control the nausea brought on by both AIDS and cancer treatments and to restore his appetite. He gave writer and patient Todd McCormick a large advance to finance a research project into the medicinal qualities of different strains of marijuana for a book after Proposition 215 passed in 1996, which allows use of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. When Todd was arrested in the 'Bel-Air mansion' case, Peter came to his defense, explained that he had financed the project - and got a federal indictment as a 'drug kingpin.' During and after the trial, Federal District Court Judge George King ordered him not to smoke marijuana. Since his mother and brother had taken out second mortgages on their houses to make his bail and he didn't want to put them in jeopardy, he complied. At first his health deteriorated severely, but over time he developed a severe regimen of bedrest and other precautions that enabled him to keep his medicines and his viral count down. On June 11, a fire in his house destroyed Mr. McWilliams' computer and backups, including a book on his ordeal that was almost finished. The loss was overwhelming to him. On Wednesday he was found dead; he had choked on his own vomit. One can't help but think that if he had been allowed to use the anti-nauseant he found most effective, he would still be alive, his intelligence and infectious sense of humor still vital despite the deterioration of his body. --part1_c8.6877f38.2683e3cd_boundary-- ------------------------------ End of restore V1 #533 ********************** * ------ CRRH's Oregon petition now has over 67,000 signatures and needs 66,786 valid voters' signatures by July 7th to qualify for a Nov. 7, 2000 vote. ------ To subscribe, unsubscribe or switch to immediate or digest mode, please send your instructions to . ------ *Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp* mail: CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA email: crrh@crrh.org phone: (503) 235-4606 fax: (503) 235-0120 web: http://www.crrh.org/